RADIO

THIS FAR BY FAITH: The Black Catholic Chapel of the Air

PURPOSE:

THIS FAR BY FAITH was conceived to give a 'look inside' the Catholic Church in the Black community. It is an evangelization program for Black Catholics; and a pre-evangelization program for the Black community in general. The 30 minute program features Black Catholic choirs, the reading of the liturgical cycle with bishops, priest and deacons preaching the Word. At the end of the show, there are the announcement of the Black Catholic parishes in the listening vicinity.

BACKGROUND:

Historically, Black Churches have used Sunday on the radio to show the general community the dynamism of their church. Many Black do not feel comfortable entering a Catholic Church. There is seldom seen a Welcome sign in front of Catholic Churches even in the Black community. Through THIS FAR BY FAITH we are inviting people to hear what is going on inside the faith life of our religious experience.

HISTORY:

THIS FAR BY FAITH was submitted as a concept to the Catholic Communication Campaign. (CCC) in 1983 and funded in 1984. The funding was for one year: to produce 52 shows. Through the cooperation of priests and bishops, the sermon were recorded in studios at the National Black Clergy Caucus convention in Baltimore, Maryland in the summer of 1984. Those who were not at the convention recorded their sermons in other diocesan and commercial studios. As the program became known by offices for Black Catholics throughout the nation, slowly the subscriptions began to grow. We provided a calendar of homilists and choirs and a brochure on what the radio evangelization ministry could be for their Black community.

In our second grant the following year from the CCC we were able to promote the program nationally. We were also able to receive funding from the American Board of Catholic Ministries because of the growing success of the program.

People take pride in our radio program: Black Catholic pride. For instance in Washington, D.C., Bishop Marino, (now Archbishop of Atlanta) placed the program on two radio stations in the Black community to enhance the opportunity of people hearing the broadcast. One show was aired in the morning prime time and the other in the evening prime time.

PRESENT STATUS:

At this time This is our fourth year being on the air. It is noteworthy to mention that the radio broadcast has recorded over 150 programs. These programs cover the A, B and C liturgical cycles of readings. Because we have recorded all of the Sundays for the entire three year cycle, we have entered into a maintenance mode. In the maintenance mode we need only to update the choirs, and add new homilists as new dioceses come aboard. This maintenance drastically cuts our need for funds, since we have so many programs previously recorded.

We have successfully been on the air for four years of uninterrupted broadcasting in more than 25 communities. Our annual budget is $40,000.00 This budget is realized to a great extent by the Archdioceses of Detroit Pastoral Telecommunication Center where we are allowed to record.

We are happy to inform you that we now have the following archdioceses and dioceses subscribing to our programs: The Catholic Telecommunication Network of America; The Archdioceses of Atlanta; Baltimore; St. Louis; Washington, D.C.; and the Dioceses of Biloxi; Columbus; Pittsburgh; Saginaw; Syracuse; and Toledo. Through their subscription we hope to maintain our creation of new programs.

FUTURE PROSPECTS:

Our hope is to continue to broaden our subscription base to the various diocese with the desire to evangelize the Black community. As our slogan suggests, we plan to witness to the Black community the richness of the Catholic tradition when we say: "ON THE AIR TILL JESUS COMES IN THE AIR!"